1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic cotton candy machine. Cotton candy is a confection made of sugar filaments wound onto a stick.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditionally, cotton candy is made with continuous involvement of an operator. A cotton candy machine has a hollow cylindrical head filled with sugar, heated to approximately 150.degree. C., and revolving at high speed, between 3000 and 5000 rpm. The head has radial orifices and the melted sugar is centrifuged in the form of filaments. Dispersion of these filaments in the outward direction is limited by a basin-shaped receptacle. The operator, provided with a stick or cardboard cone, collects the filaments of centrifuged sugar and forms them into a ball with a diameter of approximately 30 cm. He executes two kinds of manual movement: he twirls the stick around its own axis and swipes the stick along the basin wall.
The attempt has already been made to make automatic cotton candy machines. Such a machine is described in Document FR 2,248,792.
However, such machines could never be operated satisfactorily and independently because the stick supply hopper allowed storage of only a limited number of sticks, because stick pickup was unsatisfactory as the sticks had to be perfectly calibrated, which is not the case in practice, leading to breakage of certain sticks that were off-center relative to the stick holder, and finally because the discharge device for the formed cotton candy could not be implemented for both technical and hygienic reasons.